Glenn Taylor
4 min read
In This Article:
Supply chain visibility technology provider E2open has been taken private in a $2.1 billion acquisition by logistics software solutions provider WiseTech Global.
The sale gives E2open a new home more than a year after the company initiated a strategic review in March 2024, and enables the Australia-headquartered WiseTech to scale its U.S. presence.
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E2open will join another freight tech business under the WiseTech Global umbrella, CargoWise, which is a logistics operations software primarily used by freight forwarders and third-party logistics providers (3PLs) like Ceva Logistics, Seko Logistics and DHL Global Forwarding.
Although WiseTech already has 16,500 customers across CargoWise and its other platforms like multi-modal rail solutions provider Blume Global, the acquisition will add about 5,600 customers to WiseTech’s network. The cloud-based E2open platform will also give WiseTech access to more than 500,000 manufacturing, logistics, channel and distribution partners, tracking more than 18 billion transactions every year.
With E2open in the fold, WiseTech will have direct connectivity to ocean carriers like Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), Maersk and CMA CGM, with the technology tracking 67 million containers annually. Roughly 18.5 percent of global export container bookings are managed through E2open’s platforms.
The WiseTech team sees the E2open product site as a complement to the wider CargoWise ecosystem, since it includes tools for supply chain planning and trade compliance, among others.
“These product opportunities extend our reach in key adjacent markets such as global trade management and supply chain planning whilst filling in gaps in our own products that would have required substantial investment over time,” said Richard White, founder and executive chair at WiseTech Global, in a Monday morning briefing. “These extended capabilities will be attractive to existing and new customers alike and allow our combined customer base access to new and expanded capabilities and new geographies and markets.”
Andrew Cartledge, interim CEO of WiseTech Global, said there was “very little overlap” in products between both solutions.
WiseTech sees an opportunity to take advantage of the growing need for supply chain and logistics software solutions, citing Gartner data indicating that total spend on these technologies would expand from $28 billion in 2024 to $57 billion in 2025.
